I am fully aware of the critical moments we face as a country.

I cannot allow a third party to decide on my country's future.

There are going to be a lot of problems with social cohesion. We are already cutting down everything to the bone. Unless there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Very serious mistakes were made by previous governments, and Greece was ready to be abandoned by its partners and to leave the eurozone, which would have created total catastrophe.

Other countries have access to the markets, whereas Greece does not. Therefore, we have to get liquidity through the ECB.

We have decreased the salaries of everybody who partakes in politics, from the president to the prime minister to the MPs [members of Parliament]. We have cut expenditures that have to do with parliament. Everybody knows we are serious.

Our first goal is to stop the recession and start with recovery.